The next day arrived.
Joe Yabuki, Kim Geon-woo, and Hong Woo-jin waited together inside the bookstore.
Woo-jin had headphones on and moved his head to the beat.
"Baby, baby, baby, oh~"
He spun around with his hands in the air and stepped in time with the music.
"Like baby, baby, baby, no~"
He pointed at a wall like he was on stage and made clicking sounds with his mouth.
Geon-woo crouched by a shelf and picked up books that had fallen over. He put them back in neat rows and wiped sweat from his forehead. He folded an empty cardboard box and tucked it into a corner before grabbing a broom to sweep up the dust.
Joe stood nearby with his hands in his pockets and watched the younger man work.
Geon-woo looked up and noticed Joe staring.
"Mr. Yabuki, were you a professional boxer before?"
"Yeah."
Geon-woo stopped sweeping and his eyes went wide. "How many years were you active?"
"Not for long."
"Oh." Geon-woo leaned the broom against a shelf and walked over. "How many fights did you have? How many wins?"
Joe felt his lip twitch but he stayed calm.
"Twenty-three matches. Seventeen wins and six losses."
"Seventeen wins!" Geon-woo leaned in closer. "How many knockouts?"
"All."
Geon-woo took a deep breath. "Did you win a title?"
"OPBF champion."
Geon-woo looked like he had seen a ghost. "OPBF... That is the Asia-Pacific belt..."
Joe looked at the kid's excited face. "Do you box too?"
"Yeah!" Geon-woo nodded fast. "Since I was a teenager. I was about to go pro soon."
Joe nodded. "Why did you stop?"
Geon-woo's smile disappeared. "COVID happened. Things weren't right at home. I had to make money."
Joe did not ask for details. He looked at the bandage on the kid's face.
"What happened to your cheek?"
Geon-woo touched the white tape. "Do you want to see?"
Joe thought about it for a second. "If you are okay with it."
Geon-woo slowly peeled the bandage back. A jagged scar ran from his forehead down to his jawline. It was deep and ugly.
Joe did not flinch. "How did you get it?"
"Loan sharks from Smile Capital scammed my mom. They smashed up her bakery and broke everything inside. I fought a dozen of them when I found out."
Joe raised an eyebrow. "A dozen?"
"Yeah." Geon-woo gave a sad laugh. "But I lost to one guy at the end."
"One guy?"
"He was built like an ogre. He headbutted me until I couldn't see straight. Then the boss of Smile Capital cut my face with a knife to give me a warning."
Joe frowned.
'Smile Capital.'
He was hearing that name everywhere lately. He decided it was best to stay away from people like that.
Suddenly, Woo-jin let out a loud scream from across the room.
"Shit, bro!"
Joe and Geon-woo both turned to look at him.
"What happened?"
Woo-jin pointed at a pile of money on the floor. "Look! It was inside the books!"
Geon-woo walked over and saw stacks of cash sitting on the wood. "Is that real? That has to be millions..."
Joe walked over but stayed quiet.
"Wait." Woo-jin started pulling more books off the shelves and dropping them.
More cash fell out of the hollowed-out pages.
Woo-jin gasped. "Whoa! There is even more! No way."
The bookstore was a fake. It was a vault for holding millions of dollars.
Woo-jin sat on the sofa and stared at the piles. "Holy shit."
Geon-woo started counting the books and doing the math in his head.
"Seventeen billion, eighteen... twenty-one... Uh... twenty-two billion."
Joe was surprised by the amount of money but he didn't feel like stealing it. All the money in the world couldn't fix his brain or stop the shaking.
Geon-woo cleared his throat.
"I think I met Hyeon-ju before."
Woo-jin looked up. "What? You know her?"
"I saw her chasing a homeless man a few days ago. I tried to stop her and she tased me."
Woo-jin laughed. "You got tased?"
"Yeah."
Joe did not say anything. His Parkinson's made it hard to talk fast so he kept his words for when they mattered.
"What happened next? Did you fight her?"
Geon-woo shook his head. "No. She just yelled at me and walked away."
Woo-jin stood up and put an arm around Geon-woo's shoulders. "Do not worry about it. I will handle her. You just stay quiet and let me talk."
Geon-woo nodded. "Okay. But you made me lose count."
"My bad."
Joe spoke up from the side. "Twenty-two."
Geon-woo looked confused. "What?"
"You were at twenty-two billion."
Geon-woo smiled. "Thanks."
The sound of a keypad beeping came from the front door.
Kim Hyeon-ju walked into the room. She had short hair and wore a serious frown. She clearly did not want anyone there.
Woo-jin jumped up to greet her. "Hello, Ms. Hyeon-ju! Mr. Choi picked us himself. You are safe with us around."
He put his hands on his hips and stuck out his chest.
"#GoOn."
He changed his pose and pointed one finger at the ceiling.
"#SecurityGuard."
He crossed his arms and tilted his head back.
"#Manager."
Then he dropped into a crouch and made a heart with his hands. He winked at her.
"#Brother. Brother."
Hyeon-ju stared at him. "What are you doing?"
Woo-jin kept the heart shape up. "Brother. Meet your new best friends."
Hyeon-ju clicked her tongue and looked annoyed.
Woo-jin leaned forward and moved his arms like a bulldozer scoop. He made a rumbling sound with his throat. "Just say the word and we will do anything you need."
"I do not need anything."
Woo-jin kept moving his arms back and forth. "We are ready whenever you decide to call us."
Hyeon-ju gave him a cold look. "I will never need you. So leave."
Geon-woo nodded. "Okay."
Woo-jin nodded too. "Do you not like us?"
"I don't know you. I just don't need you."
"You haven't even seen us work yet."
"I have done everything on my own just fine so far. That is how I know."
She turned to walk away. "I hate people who argue."
"I am not arguing."
"You just did it again. Get out."
Woo-jin looked at the floor and didn't know what to say.
Joe stepped forward and put a hand on Woo-jin's shoulder.
He looked Hyeon-ju in the eye. "Ms. Hyeon-ju, if things were fine then Mr. Choi would not have hired us. Your work is getting more dangerous. You might be okay today but nobody knows about tomorrow. You should think about that."
Hyeon-ju snorted. "I like working alone."
Joe gave a small bow. "Maybe. But have you ever worked in a team before? Give us a few tasks. See how we do. You can't say you like being alone if you don't know what it is like to have help."
Hyeon-ju stayed quiet. She couldn't find a way to argue with him.
Geon-woo spoke up. "I really need this job. Please let me stay for one month. If I am useless I will quit. I promise. Just one month."
Hyeon-ju let out a long breath.
"Fine."
She looked at the three of them. "One month. If you get in the way you are gone."
Geon-woo and Woo-jin bowed. "Thank you!"
Joe gave a nod.
Hyeon-ju sighed and turned toward the back room.
"Just stay out of my way."
Woo-jin wiped sweat from his forehead and looked at Joe. "Mr. Yabuki, we owe you one."
Joe shook his head. "It is fine."
Geon-woo walked over too. "You are good at talking, Mr. Yabuki."
Joe felt the corner of his mouth lift again.
"Let's get to work."